On a Mind-Trail

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

It's funny how in a crowd, almost always the good people opt to remain silent 'n hidden. Whereas the bad ones on account of being loudest garner all the attention, well at least in the beginning before we get to know them better. From my experience i know how easy it is to overlook 'n forget the silent ppl. 'N its very rare that you will get a chance to perceive them better unconsciously...,so in life you end up passing unconsciously many a opportunities to get to know really good people, who probably may be having similar preferences/outlook towards life as you do.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

few dispersed thoughts...

on a few dispersed topics... :)

well last saturday, tried the new 'Maggi Dal Atta' and to say that it was bad would be an understatement. Usually I make it a point not to try the new stuff maggi comes out with, coz 'm pretty sure they will be bad. So i still haven't tried out the 'Maggi Atta' noodles or even the chinese stuff which came 'n went... :) Anyways had to try this 'coz my Dad on his recent trip to Supermarket, thought that this will be a better buy than the usual one 'coz of all that 'vitamins 'n good for health' slogans on the wrapper. 'n boy was i irked, when it tasted so awful 'n i had no option but to somehow stomach through the whole bowl(yeah...me have a policy of not wasting any food) 'n so picked up an argument with Dad as to who asked him to get this instead of the usual, 'n he gave it back to me saying "didn't I always nag him to buy healthy food" 'n that healthy 'n tasty food don't go together. I was like "ofcourse that ain't true, you have many healthy food which are equally tasty" but unfortunately at that time i couldn't think of any, 'n all i remembered was the 'bitter gourd' vegetable which is supposed to be so gr8 for health 'n one which i can't eat for nuts! Anyways probably later I may update a list of foods which are 'Healthy + Tasty', meanwhile you can send in your entries... :D But remember if you love the traditional Maggi as much as i do, then you better stay away from the 'Maggi Dal Atta'

this monday took leave on account of 'Makara Sankranthi'/'Pongal'. To me festivals are a gr8 time to hog on sweets,good food 'n to sleep. In between of that, i managed to catch live telecast of Marat Safin's 1st round match of Aus Open. Well it was indeed a long time 'n i started reminiscing the college days, when you had all the time to catch up with all the sports actions. As in Joseph Heller's book 'Something Happened' , all i can say is something happened after i joined work 'n me kinda almost completely stopped watching sports. Anyways this match was engrossing and as i always say 'No match of Safin's can be boring'. They are always entertaining what with all his racquet smashing 'n arguing with umpire... :) 'n this one too had its share. One nice moment was when Becker served 'n Safin moved out of the ball's way... think that was the 1st time in Tennis history (Body-line? :D) Anyways there were moments when i almost switched off the set(somehow can never watch a player/team i like losing) but made myself watch through the entire match 'n i wasn't to be disappointed. :) He was rusty, which was to be expected with his long long injury off. Now i just hope he gets back into form 'n makes past Andy-Roddick, what a stupid draw they have got this year! Safin Vs Roddick a 3rd round match!

Well now i know why everyone keeps quoting 'shawshank redemption' 'n 'requiem for a dream' in their favorite movies list. :) won't add more abt 'em, coz 'm sure its been done to death by many eminent others. :D 'n just a tidbit - 'shwashank redemption' was based on a novella by Stephen King! can you believe it Stephen King! yep da very same King who writes all those horror books!

'n Jack Nicholson looked real good, when he was young 'n his acting was as superlative as it is now. Plus charming as hell, as he is, even now! :) If you are wondering, well its 'coz i saw 'Chinatown' last week. It's a real nice movie, with just amazing dialogues. Check this - "Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough." Anyways, now 'm waiting to get my hands on 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest'. btw 'm still in a dilemma as to read the book first or watch the movie, guess it will depend on wht 'll fall into my hands first. :)

'n 'm rounding it off with Zappa's quote -

"Information is not knowledge,Knowledge is not wisdom,Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music and Music is THE BEST "

Friday, January 05, 2007

I finally Won!

"wow....what a way to start New Year", was what i thought when a certain female rang me up on 2nd 'n said that i had won a 7 days stay in a 5* hotel and i could choose any one of the four places Goa,Kovalam,Kandy or Bali. I had never won anything in my life! Can you imagine that? What with almost any place you go having some lucky-dip, scratch the card offers.... you would think that you will atleast win somewhere!Anyways, the conversation between me 'n the lady went something like this:Me: Where did i win? (my hopeless memory...what do you expect? :D )Lady: Did you attend 'National Consumer Fair' sometime in last few weeks?Me: YeahLady: You dropped in a coupon and you have won the prize in the lucky dip.Me: WowLady: The prize is from Country Vactaions 'n its a 7days stay in a 5* hotel in any one of the four places - Goa,Kovalam,Kandy 'n Bali for a couple and a kid.Me: NiceLady: So M'am, when can you and your husband come to collect the gift voucher?Me: One sec...'m not married! (thinking...there goes my prize...)Lady: No problem M'am, you can come with your parents to collect the gift voucher.Me: Ok, so does it mean only a 'couple' can avail the gift? (still feeling bad...'n thinking thr goes the 1st thing i have won...)Lady: No Ma'am, any two adults plus one kid below 12 years can use it. But to collect it, you will need to come with your parents, as we can give it only to a couple.Me: Ok.'N then the conversation went on regarding where to collect the voucher 'n what time and so on.

Well when i told this to my Dad, he was his usual apprehensive self and asked are you sure? 'n me being the exact opposite, readily believing others (which btw i don't think is a bad thing! i think people are generally good by nature) neways managed to convince him that it is genuine and to to come along.'N so yesterday evening, i, my mom 'n my Dad landed up at that place around 6:30. The 1st shock - I was not alone! i mean there were around 25 more couples in there (Apparently out of 1 lakh ppl, they seleted 500 lucky couples, so means i wasn't the sole-winner) 2nd shock - When the receptionist said we will have to attend a one-hour presentation before we get our vouchers. It was then that all the suspicions started assaulting my mind. Anyone who has lived in B'lore will know about these marketing strategy( sorry don't know the exact term for it) where-in a certain person calls up, saying you have won 'n you can come and collect the gift at this place 'n so on. And once you go there they literally 'Bug' you for one-hour. I know this coz one of my aunt 'n uncle did attend one such calls! 'n all they got for it was some drinking-glass set, you wouldn't think of using!

Anyways my dad was convinced this is one more gimmick like the others. So we went in 'n i got to know its a division of Country Club, of which i became a member recently 'N surprise surprise that we will actually get the gift, whether we decide to invest in it or not! Then the sales representative was like -"It will take min. 1 hr to get the vouchers, so why not listen to our offer instead of just waiting" . Thinking poor chap he has a job to do, we went ahead. Well the 'Country Vacations' concept ain't all that new. My father had invested in one such a neat 15 yrs ago! 'n since i had recently become a Country club member, didn't make much sense to invest in this. Well some people have a tough time taking 'NO' for an answer 'n sales representatives, you can just imagine! On top of it the Country Club people employ this marketing strategy, again don't know the term (pressure selling? :D) where they keep telling you that this offer is only for today 'n you wont get it any time later. When in reality you will very well get the same even after 6 months. Anyways this chap went on 'n on 'n on....'N thanks to some rude 'n snobbish behavior on top of it by one of the managers, it didn't take long for my Dad to lose his cool! I don't understand why people have to be rude, when it is so much easier to get your work done by being li'l nice. 'n especially if you are selling something i don't think you get to be rude! I hate creating scenes in the public so da peace-maker me intervened before the situation got really ugly. (hmm....peace-maker...yep thats what i am.... :D)

Anyways at the end of it, we finally did get the voucher but is there anything in life which comes absolutely free? Obviously not, so the catch in this was that you get a more than Rs 25,000 worth gift but you will have to pay a luxury tax of 3K. Well not a bad bargain, but the unpleasant episode(people) i could have done without. Unpleasant-ness of life....its not nice to come across it.